Imagine, if you will, these two scenarios: (1) your toddler is throwing a fit in the produce section of your local grocery and the situation is spiraling downward quickly; or (2) your name was accidentally omitted from a document related to reaching a milestone at your employer which results in a few tears being shed. What occurs next in each of these scenarios? Do you react the same or differently? Jennie Allen offers some insight into the importance of mindset in her book entitled Get Out of Your Head, which was introduced previously in the blog post His Favorite.

In the first scenario outlined in the previous paragraph, my hope is that the response is to correct and redirect (we won’t discuss the times in which you joined him in his tirade, as we all know that option occurs too). However, it is the second scenario which relates to Allen’s call to Shift the Spiral. “The greatest spiritual battle of our generation is being fought between our ears. What we believe and what we think about matters, and the enemy knows it. And he is determined to get in your head to distract you from doing good and to sink you so deep that you feel helpless, overwhelmed, shut down, and incapable of rising to make a difference for the kingdom of God.”

Now, let’s examine the process for Shifting the Spiral in the second scenario mentioned above. Rather than dissolving into sobs and feelings of worthlessness, what if we stop the spiraling train which “invades our relationships and robs our joy and peace,” and instead “obsessively recite a passage of Scripture” that you “hope and pray will keep [you] tethered to [your] faith in God? If you have trusted in Jesus as your Savior, you have the power of God in you to choose! You are no longer a slave to passions, to lusts, to strongholds, to sin of any kind. You have a God-given, God-empowered, God-redeemed ability to choose what you think about.”

What I love about Allen’s idea is that we choose to embrace a growth mindset (Habit of Growth), one where “with each shift we will find ourselves growing more and more into the mind of Christ.” Would Christ focus on one of the three lies we believe: “I’m helpless. I’m worthless, I’m unlovable?” Absolutely not! Allen adds, “When we’re spiraling in cynicism, we have a choice to shift our minds back to God through worship.” We have the opportunity to Shift the Spiral before it takes us too far down into the abyss to recover. “When I’m mired in a certain way of thinking that clearly is not serving me well, I can escape that thought pattern and seize a new thought pattern. I can make a mental shift. And by changing my mind, I can change my emotions, which interrupts that entire progression we looked at earlier that results in how I’m experiencing life.”

In addition to focusing on changing our mindset to healthier contemplations so that we can flourish and thrive, we also need “our minds to be redeemed…we need a complete transformation: our minds exchanged for the minds of Christ.” Now personally, I am awkward enough managing my own mind, so the idea of the mind of Christ sounds a little arduous; however, if I choose to embrace the development of a Habit of Awareness which Shifts the Spiral from dwelling on myself to others, I am free “to experience life and peace as [I] begin to think less about [myself] and more about our Creator and about others.”

So, how will you engage in the “ongoing work of the spiritual life,” to make a “day-by-day, moment-by-moment choice to move from chaos and confusion toward the peace of Christ?” What choices can you render that allow you to Shift the Spiral of negative thoughts to redeemed ones, whether that occurs in your life spiritually, personally, or professionally? Please share in the comments below.

Reference:

Allen, J. (2020). Get out of your head: Stopping the spiral of toxic thoughts. The Crown Publishing Group.